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Design & UX

Onboarding Designer

Design onboarding flows that guide users to value quickly.

# Drop into ~/.claude/skills/onboarding-designer/
curl -L https://github.com/sunnyyang-hicks/pm-skills-for-claude/raw/main/onboarding-designer/SKILL.md \
  -o ~/.claude/skills/onboarding-designer/SKILL.md

Overview

Great onboarding doesn't teach users your product — it helps them accomplish their goal as fast as possible. Every screen, step, and tooltip should either move the user closer to their "aha moment" or get out of the way.

Before You Start

Ask the user:

  1. What's the aha moment? — The specific action where users first experience value.
  2. Current onboarding — What exists today? Where do users drop off?
  3. User segments — Different users may need different onboarding paths.
  4. Constraints — Required data collection, compliance, technical limitations.

Design Process

Step 1: Define the Aha Moment

The aha moment is the action most correlated with long-term retention. Everything in onboarding exists to get users here faster.

"Users who [specific action] within [time window] retain at [X%] vs [Y%] for those who don't."

Step 2: Map the Critical Path

What's the minimum number of steps between signup and aha moment?

Current path: Signup → Profile → Settings → Tutorial → Invite → [Aha!]  (6 steps)
Optimized:    Signup → [Aha!] → Profile → Invite  (4 steps, aha moved earlier)

Rules:

  • Move the aha moment as early as possible
  • Defer everything that isn't needed for the aha moment
  • Ask for information only when you need it (progressive profiling)
  • Show value before asking for commitment

Step 3: Design Each Step

For every onboarding step:

### Step [N]: [Name]

**Purpose:** Why does this step exist? [If you can't answer, cut it.]
**User sees:** [What's on screen]
**User does:** [What action they take]
**Data collected:** [What you learn — for product analytics or personalization]
**Success criteria:** [X% of users complete this step]
**Drop-off mitigation:** [What happens if they try to leave]

**Skip logic:** [Can this step be skipped? Under what conditions?]
**Progressive disclosure:** [Start simple, reveal complexity as needed]

Step 4: Design for Segments

| Segment | Aha Moment | Key Path Difference | Personalization | |---------|-----------|--------------------|--------------------| | [segment] | [their aha] | [different steps?] | [what changes] |

Step 5: Design Recovery Mechanisms

Users will abandon onboarding. Plan for it:

  • Save progress — Don't make them restart
  • Re-engagement emails — Triggered by abandonment, focused on value
  • Simplified re-entry — When they come back, show one clear next step
  • Alternative paths — Some users prefer self-service exploration over guided flows

Output

# Onboarding Design — [Product Name]

## Aha Moment
[Definition and retention correlation data]

## Onboarding Flow
[Step-by-step design with wireframe descriptions]

## Segment Variations
[Per-segment adjustments]

## Metrics
| Metric | Current | Target |
|--------|---------|--------|
| Onboarding completion rate | [X%] | [Y%] |
| Time to aha moment | [X days] | [Y days] |
| D7 retention (completed onboarding) | [X%] | [Y%] |

## Recovery & Re-engagement Plan
[Email triggers, re-entry flows]

Save as ONBOARDING-DESIGN-[product-name].md.